Japan News for April 16, 2007

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    This morning’s Japan-related news links:

    • A moderate earthquake jolted central and western Japan on Sunday, injuring at least five people and damaging houses. [Link]
    • Candidates vying for over 100 mayoral posts and assembly seats in more than 300 municipalities took to the streets Sunday, marking the beginning of weeklong campaigning in the second round of April regional elections in Japan. [Link]
    • U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his visit to Japan in February to define the conditions under which Japan would consider the North Korea abduction issue resolved, diplomatic sources said Saturday. [Link]
    • Over 1 in 3 Japanese couples permanently sexless according to the results of the government’s biannual survey on people’s lifestyles. [Link]
    • NTT DoCoMo Inc. , Japan’s top mobile phone operator, will launch a music download service offering unlimited downloading of full-length songs for a fixed monthly fee, the first such service in Japan, financial daily Nikkei said on Saturday. [Link]
    • Nine South Korean fishermen are being questioned by Japanese authorities on Sunday after their boat violated Japan’s exclusive waters. [Link]
    • The world’s top casino operators are jockeying for a stake in a vast but untapped market as Japan moves closer to an overhaul of its strict gambling laws to lure rich Asian tourists and boost its economy. [Link]
    • Japan’s schools are deteriorating due mainly to bullying and bad teachers, according to a survey of Japanese internet users conducted by MyVoice. [Link]
    • Licca-chan, Japan’s version of the dress-up doll Barbie, is set to take on an international look this month as toy giant Tomy unveils a new line of dolls ahead of the 40th anniversary of Licca-chan’s creation. [Link]
    • We’ve been mentioned in the Memphis Flyer, although it seems that they have a little trouble understanding what Japan Probe is… [Link]

      • Afternoon update:

      • Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi met in Tokyo today for the first time since Abe took office in September to discuss UN Security Council reforms and climate change. [Link]
      • Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has seen his personal popularity rise following last week’s landmark visit to Japan by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. [Link]
      • The Japanese government has said North Korea’s failure to shut its nuclear reactor by a deadline worked out two months ago is regrettable. [Link]
      • The United States has requested that Japan consider softening a condition it has attached to importing beef from the United States by setting a concrete deadline by which Tokyo should abide by, sources informed on bilateral relations said Sunday. [Link]
      • Negotiations for the release of three hostages in Paraguay are in the final stage, a senior Unification Church official told Kyodo News on Sunday. [Link]
      • A man who drove his car in the wrong direction on a 40-kilometer section of an expressway late Sunday in Saga Prefecture, triggering three accidents that left two people with slight injuries, has been arrested. [Link]
      • Although the ruling parties’ national referendum bill to set procedures for revising the Constitution stipulates, in principle, that 18-year-olds will be allowed to vote, caution still prevails in the government and the ruling parties against lowering the age of majority to 18, from the present 20. [Link]
      • Use of electronic devices that let pachinko players know when pachinko machines will release a jackpot has been declared theft in a ruling at the Supreme Court. [Link]
      • An increasing number of metal thefts has prompted Kashima Railway Co. to hire guards to patrol the tracks of its recently closed line to protect the metal rails from thieves. [Link]
      • A police sergeant in Kochi who sneaked into a female bar worker’s home and groped her as she was sleeping has been arrested, law enforcers said. [Link]
      • Japan Post Corp plans to tie up with Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co and JCB Co for credit card services that a postal savings bank will undertake after October’s privatization of the postal system. [Link]
      • A sluggish and cumbersome regulatory process has delayed the sale of many medical devices in Japan compared to the rest of the world, and it may put off global makers from making further inroads in the future, according to a Reuters report. [Link]
      • A professor at Osaka Prefecture University and a veterinary medical screening company in Osaka Prefecture have jointly developed a method for cancer screening for cats by detecting a tumor marker in their blood. [Link]
      • Britain has led an anti-whaling fightback against Japan’s attempts to take control of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and scrap the international ban on commercial hunting of the great whales. [Link]
      • The topic for this month’s Japan Blog Matsuri is “Tourism.” Submit your blog links now! [Link]
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